1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to embedding data in material. Embodiments of the invention relate to watermarking material.
“Material” as used herein means information material represented by information signals which includes at least one or more of image material, audio material and data material. Image material is generic to still and moving images and includes video and other information signals representing images.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Steganography is the embedding of data into material such as video material, audio material and data material in such a way that the data is imperceptible in the material.
Data may be embedded as a watermark in material such as video material, audio material and data material. A watermark may be imperceptible or perceptible in the material.
A watermark may be used for various purposes. It is known to use watermarks for the purpose of protecting the material against, or trace, infringement of the intellectual property rights of the owner(s) of the material. For example a watermark may identify the owner of the material.
Watermarks may be “robust” in that they are difficult to remove from the material. Robust watermarks are useful to trace the provenance of material which is processed in some way either in an attempt to remove the mark or to effect legitimate processing such as video editing or compression for storage and/or transmission. Watermarks may be “fragile” in that they are easily damaged by processing which is useful to detect attempts to remove the mark or process the material.
Visible watermarks are useful to allow e.g. a customer to view an image e.g. over the Internet to determine whether they wish to buy it but without allowing the customer access to the unmarked image they would buy. The watermark degrades the image and the mark is preferably not removable by the customer. Visible watermarks are also used to determine the provenance of the material into which they are embedded.
It is known to embed a watermark into material by applying a spatial frequency transform to the material embedding the watermark in the spatial frequency transform and applying an inverse transform to the watermarked material. A scaling factor is applied to the watermark. It is desirable to choose a scaling factor to improve the ability of the watermark to withstand unauthorised attempts to remove it; allow efficient authorised removal; reduce degradation of the unmarked material; and ensure that the mark is imperceptible where an imperceptible mark is desired. Those properties may be incompatible. Also, when material has been watermarked, it is desirable to be able to remove the mark. However, embedding a watermark in the material in such a way as to make difficult unauthorised removal may also have the consequence that the watermark is difficult to remove by an authorised person.